British television viewers sometimes remind me of the England football team that refused to enter the World Cup in the first half of the last century because they already knewthey were the best. If there was a World Cup-style event for sitcoms on the cards, I'd wager a good number of British telly-watchers would doubtless think the same thing.

And Britain has, of course, produced some world-class sitcoms – from Fawlty Towers and Some Mothers Do Ave Em through to Only Fools & Horses and The Good Life, Peep Show and the IT Crowd. It would be obvious who would win. Britain. Because we're hilarious.

Sadly, it's time to draw a line under this misconception. Because while we are currently living in a golden age of smart, clever and adventurous situation comedy – but the vast majority of it is coming from the US. In the same way they're better at soft rock, gas-guzzling cars and fast food, it appears that Americans are also better at sitcoms.

For those whose viewing is largely confined to primetime on the four main channels, that statement might not appear to be true: so far as these TV consumers are concerned, the last great US sitcom could well have been Friends. While, in the past, Cheers, Roseanne, Friends and Frasier were shown in primetime slots, today's great US sitcoms are scattered across the schedules. Modern Family, 30 Rock, How I Met Your Mother and Nurse Jackie were squirrelled away, while acclaimed shows such as Party Down, Community, Parks & Recreation and Bored To Death haven't made it to the UK at all.

The BBC appears happy to fill the BBC3 schedule with endless repeats of Family Guy – how about spending just a fraction of the licence-fee payers' money on importing any of the above? Start with the acerbic Party Down, which stars Glee's Jane Lynch and focuses around the machinations of a dysfunctional catering company. From what I've seen online, it's brilliant.

But then the BBC appears to have a rather odd attitude to US sitcoms – the corporation's haphazard scheduling made following Seinfeld and The Larry Sanders Show incredibly difficult. But it is far from alone. ITV, for instance, seems to be in denial about the US version of The Office, consigning it to a galaxy far far away – I think they call it ITV4 – instead of championing it in the same way that Friends, Happy Days and Frasier were championed by past generations. Oddly, the least imaginative of the current crop of US shows – Big Bang Theory – is the only import that seems to get any love.

It is not as if we have much to compete against these imports - Outnumbered, The IT Crowd and The Thick Of It, perhaps. So why not show the best of both? Even if the (much) longer series in the US allow time for story arcs and character development, while our best shows come and go in only six episodes.Or maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps British sitcoms are still superior to their American counterparts. Perhaps our short seasons are actually a strength. Let us know – along with your favourite comedy shows from both sides of the Atlantic.